Troops coming home from Iraq

KILLEEN, Texas (KXAN) - The day after President Obama announced 30,000 more troops will be going to Afghanistan, hundreds of soldiers returned to Ft. Hood from Iraq.

"I'm excited," said one soldier's wife, Andrea Jones. "On a scale of one to ten, I'm probably a 30,000!"

For wives like Jones, who haven't been able to see their husbands virtually the whole time they have been married, the President's announcement put a slight damper on the happy homecoming.

"I did get nervous," said Jones, regarding the President's speech. "That was one of the first things that went through my head, "Oh God, he's going back."

But, the soldiers who just returned said they will worry about redeployment when it comes. As for now, it's time to spend some quality time with the families they have only communicated with sporatically over the past year.

"We signed up during a time of war and we knew we were going to get deployed," said 1st Lt. Zane Nitzel. "We'll do what we have to do."

There are several more homecomings scheduled at Ft. Hood in the coming months, including two right before Christmas. And, that is the only gift many of these soldiers want.